Stylin' Falkirk

The fall issue of the e-mag, Twist Collective, included my plaid cardigan, Falkirk.  Friday it appeared in their regular blog feature where they show ways to style their sweaters. Here's the nice things they had to say about it: "Fall and plaid are a really excellent pair. At my friend Alysse's family cottage, there are a bunch of plaid shirt-jacket things (I call them lumberjackets) that everyone wears when it gets chilly at night. Falkirk is the refined version of that. Super cozy, and exactly what you want to wrap yourself in on a icy night, ideally near a roaring fire or wood stove. The details keep it looking super polished; the contrast edge on the buttonband and collar, the perfect rustic buttons, and the perfect saddle shoulder. Take a look!"  

I love the way they paired bright colors from the plaid with the cardi because it reads as a neutral from a distance.  I also love the 'sexy secretary' shoes they matched with the first two outfits.  And, it's easy to miss, but I especially love the touch of leopard under the cardi in the red pants outfit.  So, how would you wear Falkirk? 

Chilly Styling

OK, so you know that I am always harping on about how vertical lines are slimming, making cardigans a better option than pullovers, yada, yada, yada.  Well, as I was scanning the fall Talbots catalog for last week's post, I noticed something interesting.  Almost every photograph of a coat or jacket showed it hanging open.  And once I noted this, I had to quantify it.  Of the fourteen outerwear garments, eleven were shown unbuttoned, unzipped, untoggled, etc.  Of the three coats that the models wore fully closed, all three were double-breasted, a style that looks very awkward hanging open because of the extra width of stiff fabric.

Now, I am pragmatic enough to say that the slimmer look gained by the models wearing opened coats is perhaps not the only reason Talbots might be styling them this way.  They are in the business of selling clothing, and the more you can show of a garment, the more of it you will sell.  But they certainly are not choosing to not sell double-breasted coats because they don't reveal the sweater underneath.  The fact that every coat that can be worn open is means that there must be another advantage, and a coat that makes an already slim model look every taller and slimmer must stir a few more shoppers to purchase.

Having seen this phenomenon in coats, I had to go back and look at sweaters.  Of the seven cardigan sweaters shown on models, only one was 'closed', and I use the quotes because I count the cardi with one of its three buttons undone as closed.  Further, three cardigans were designed to eternally hang open, as they had no closures at all.

So does this mean we need to freeze all winter to have the slimming look of an open coat?  Not possible if you live in Wisconsin, as I now do.  My personal solution is to wear a long scarf.  Let the tails hang down the tightly buttoned front of your coat and you not only get a slimmer look, you have an extra layer of warmth.

The Real Halloween Fright: Cabled Knits

Drop shoulder Aran Sweater from J Jill

Fall is the season to break out our sweaters, often with a new look at traditional patterns and styles: Fair Isle, Sheltland, Icelandic, Aran.  It's this heavily cabled and textured latter type that is an especially tricky style for knitters who want to flatter their figures.  Cables are created through crossing stitches over stitches, resulting in a double thickness of fabric.  Add that the cables are almost always highlighted with a purl background and filled in with other highly textured patterns, such as seed stitch, and the result is a dense, often stiff fabric.

The shape of traditional Aran sweaters, usually boxy with dropped shoulders, in combination with the stiffness of the fabric, results in all loss of the body underneath, and the torso is large and boxy with an excess of fabric under the arms.  Not a slimming or flattering look.

Talbots sweater

As an aside, I personally detest bobbles on garments.  I think they look like warty growths, which I suppose would be in the Halloween spirit, but not an everyday look I would want to sport.  I find this Talbots sweater to be especially frightful.

How do you make an Aran sweater wearable for a fuller figure?  Remove all stiffness from the fabric.  Choose a yarn with drape and work in on larger needles to open up the fabric.  You also want to move away from the traditional shape:  drop shoulder, crew neck, no side shaping and oversize.  Make it a cardigan (also pretty traditional) and you've introduced a flattering horizontal line.  Bring the fit close to the body, and add some shaping through the torso.  Convert the drop shoulder to a fitted sleeve and eliminate the bulk under the arm.  And, if you are willing to stray a little from the traditional, add a v-neck, which is a universal flatterer.  

Grandpa Cardigan by Joji Locatelli

What do you get when you make those changes?  A great expample is the Grandpa Cardigan by Joji Locatelli.  She models it here in purple, but it would look so traditional in pure sheep's wool cream color.

Grandpa Cardigan knit by Vaida

Just to prove it, I've also shown it here on a lovely knitter, Vaida, who is not as skinny as Joji.  What works for larger-sized knitters is that cables create a natural strong vertical design.  Combine that with the vertical line created by the cardigan's front break, and you've got a slimming sweater.

Greetings From Wisconsin: Downton Abbey Knits 2014

It's been a while . . .

I moved to Wisconsin the last week of August, spent a week getting the kids registered and ready for school and unpacking the minimum, and then have spent the past three weeks working loooong days on a hush hush project.  My deadline was generous, but I was so anxious before the move that I did could not knit for three weeks prior.  So much for Elizabeth Zimmerman's invoking us to knit on with confidence through all crises . . .

But I do have something fun to share - my contribution to the 2014 edition of The Unofficial Downton Abbey Knits.  Now that the show is into the flapper era, I could not resist.  My design is a modular lace blouse worked in Artyarn's Empress.  There are three different patterns at play, and one has variations for flat and in-the-round knitting.  I also threw in a little crochet - single and reverse single - to trim the edges. 

One of the great joys in designing for publications is the time lag.  (And, I must say, one of the drawbacks.  Who wants to have to keep mum for that long?)  It's always a surprise to see your almost-forgotten project again, and beautifully photographed on a lovely model.  I have to remind myself that I made it! 

The fun in this design is that it is worked in panels, with the center front and back worked bottom-up, then the front and back side/strap pieces worked sideways off them.  The panels under the arms are continuations of the front sideways lace pieces which are joined with a 3-needle bind off to the back lace panels.  Then the bottom band is picked up and worked top-down.  The only sewing is to attach the decorative buttons.  Modular lace is not for the beginner, but this would be an adventure for a knitter with a little lace experience.

There are many gorgeous designs in this issue from great designers - Annie Modesitt, Martin Storey, Vicki Square - and some lesser known designers who have hit it out of the park, like Gini Woodward.  Grab a copy when you see it - the 2013 issue sold out the day it arrived at my LYS!

Plaid is Busting Out All Over

In the past week, two of my plaid designs have been released - a shawl-collar cardi for Twist Collective and a men's vest for Chicago Knits.  Both of these are new publications for me, and I am excited to be part of both.

Twist Collective Fall 2014

The Twist sweater is one of my more accessible plaid designs.  No intarsia here, just some knitted in horizontal stripes and applied crochet chain vertical stripes.  I simplified it even more my keeping the raglan sleeves plain.  Working the edging in one of the plaid colors ties it all together. 

The style, a shawl-collar, raglan cardigan is a universally flattering design.  The extra weight of the collar is especially nice for narrow-shouldered bodies.  The belt is knit, but you could easily substitute a purchased belt, or leave it off altogether if your waist is not a feature you choose to highlight.


Chicago Knits Summer 2014

The Chicago Knits design is for their men's issue.  I used the same technique as the Twist sweater (applied crochet chain), but we made it a little funky by fading out the plaid at the lower front edge.  You can either follow the chart to replicate my exact fade, or experiment with your own.  The traditionalists could also work the vest in full plaid.  My handsome husband was recruited as model here, although in real life he rarely wears sweaters.  (His metabolism runs fast, while mine would lose in a race with a slug.)

I've got one more plaid design awaiting release, and it's really gorgeous.  Can't wait to share it with you.

My Studio: Temporarily Imperfect Reality

So, you may have noticed blogging has been a bit light of late.  That's because I've had some big news that I was asked not to share publicly, but the cat is now out of the proverbial bag - my family is moving to Wisconsin!  It's been crazy as my husband has started his new job in Menominee Falls (Milwaukee suburbs), we've put our Chicagoland home on the market and house hunted around Milwaukee.  We'd like to land in the Hartland/Delafield area, but have to wait for our house to sell to buy there.  And all before the start of school . . . .

View from the door

So, before it becomes a pile of boxes, and then only a memory, I thought I would share my studio space.  My husband would freely tell you that in reality our entire house is my studio, but this is the room that is exclusively mine.  In all truth, this isn't truth.  My space never looks like this except for the unreal staging required of selling a house.  So add piles on tops of bookcases, bins on the floor and an overflowing closet.  That's reality.




Computer station

These photos are also in the aftermath of a major purge.  One of my LYS, String Theory, has a stash sale in late July, and I took advantage.  About a quarter of my books and nearly half my yarn stash went on the block.  I took all my single balls, leftovers, bits and bobs and made fun assortments by color.  I also unloaded my angora since my allergies seem only to be getting worse, and my last attempt to knit with it left me with a day of scratching.  The sale was last weekend, so I will call over
to String Theory tomorrow to see how I did.  Can't wait to see how much I have to spend in store credit - just in time for the Chicago Yarn Crawl!

Reference books - to the
right of computer station

Back to the studio - although the thought of a three digit yarn store credit is sooo dreamy. 




Pattern books and
crochet books

There's very little actual yarn in this room - only pending projects and my stash of recycled cashmere.  The yarn stash resides in plastic bins in the basement.  The purge reduced their number from ten to five.  Smiles from hubby. 

Wall o' storage

With less yarn in the studio, there's no way to hide my multi-craftual nature.  The sewing machine and serger are in plain sight.  Crochet books are in the open.  Needlepoint is on the table, and the jewelry making supplies are in the wall unit.  You can also see my constant companions, Gert and Trudy.  Trudy is the younger me, and Gert the present me.


Needle storage

Here's a shot of my recently reorganized needle collection.  I picked up the stoneware storage pieces at a garage sale and moved them in after a good scrub.  You can't see that the short round container holds my 16" circular needles.

And, last but not least, my inspiration board.  It is composed of four smaller bulletin boards hung together.  It changes frequently as older items come off to make room for the new. 

Inspiration board

In our new house the idea is for me to have a slightly larger studio space to contain more of the multi-crafting activities.  Stay tuned to see how that works out. 

A Definition

"An expert is a person who has made all the mistakes
that can be made in a very narrow field."
Niels Bohr, Scientist

"Call me a knitting expert."
Theresa Schabes, Woolly-Wits